
Trip-hop and acid jazz started out as something other than music disappearing into space, different than sounds afraid to offend. Besides, didn’t we used to call sounds for hotels and elevators “muzak”? Their message speaks directly - they are late heirs to a more innovative music, a music that preceded the glut of lay-low releases that saturated us to the point of drowning. However, Wax Poetic are a band, and their songs have an organic feel that suggests as much. To judge by its cover, the recent Wax Poetic release Nublu Sessions suggests another down-tempo compilation, pieced together to fill a vacuous lounge space. When it comes to the human touch and album cover art, it seems the best dance music can offer is the allure of a nubile young body, utterly irrelevant and undressed to kill either that, or it’s a mug-shot of a scowling DJ, caught like a criminal and equally wondering, “Just how did I get here?” Also, the vast majority of dance music releases are compilations, killing any possibility of identification through the specific. Dance is a largely faceless genre, one that stands without benefit of photogenic quartets or charismatic crooners. Publishing houses have plugged thousands of dollars into learning precisely what draws readers to a particular book or magazine, and entire books have been devoted to the trends of album cover art.ĭance music, as a genre, has relied more heavily than most on the clean futuristic lines of modern graphic design, and for reasons that are easily made accountable. If anything, it’s in favor of the vocalists for not only blending into the music like another sonic texture against indie production wallpaper and knowing when to step back and let the music speak for itself.The art of covers has been made science. Before you know it, the skeletal guitars override the song in the latter half and inject a shock of adrenaline that surprisingly works for an otherwise mellow song without any extreme screaming. The same is true for their new single, which initially begins in a stripped-down and laid-back space. It’s perhaps one of the reasons why bar italia sticks out in the expansive crowd of indie rock bands. Their songwriting is enigmatic and reads as poetry written solely for one person, never failing to surprise on what obscure or esoteric subject matter they choose to write about. The group themselves are unafraid to tackle production and poetic musings their way without warning.

Production isn’t the only aspect that’s the reason behind the hypnagogic state of mind. Considerably slow-paced even by the group’s standards, the underbelly of intangible darkness adds an off-kilter atmosphere amplified by the stalker perspective of the music video. Please note: This post may contain affiliate links.Ĭomposed of members Nina Cristante, Jezmi Tarik Fehmi, and Sam Fenton, their signature fuzzy lo-fi-laced indie rock is the center stage of another lethargic beat.

But now that they’re signed to Matador Records and currently preparing for a UK/European tour, the three have decided to reintroduce themselves on the latest single, “Nurse!” For the past few years, London trio bar italia has gradually gained momentum under the ever-enigmatic Dean Blunt’s label.
